i. Accuracy and luk issueii. Stability of dmgiii. It is the ULTIMATE!!! ALL MUST FOLLOW???

b. How long can the pure luk assassin sustain against normal and low-dex assassins? How much stronger is pure luk sin than low-dex and normal sins at low lvls? Hence should I stay pure luk sin forever?

Pure luk assassin is a specific category of assassins. There exist a few different types of assassin, mainly normal assassin, low-dex assassin and pure luk assassin.

Pure luk assassin basically means that you do not put any other stats except for luk, hence capping your dex at the minimum level.

It is different from low-dex such that low-dex attempts to cap your dex as low as possible but to equip the claw that will enable you to do the most dmg; for pure luk assassins, we simply put our dex at LOWEST and just equip the maple claws for our whole maple career.

Why should you play a pure luk assassin?

Pure luk sins are for lazy people who only bother adding 1 stat. j/k.

Pure luk sins are known for their high damage from level 10 to level 11X (or higher depending on your equipment)Pure luk sins are MAINLY for funded players; you can still make one if you are barely funded or unfunded. (more details later)

Pros and Cons in a glance

Pros

High damage.Ranged.Cool throwing stars/ kunaisStats are easy to add.Can train at much harder places.Save quite a lot of money if you start out funded.Saves time needed to buy equips and hunt since you are pretty much stuck with the same equips forever.Cons

Wear the same claw and equipment for your whole life.Low weapon def.Bears the title of ultimate kser wherever you walk.Gets boring at high levels. (for all sins).Slowly loses to low-dex sins.No variation; adds only 1 stat from lv 10 onwards.

Duty of an Assassin

As an assassin, we should not flaunt our power unnecessarily. If you have been reading the forums, you will see how many topics have been started regarding assassins being too powerful or assassins ksing others.

It is our duty as an Assassin to not ks others. With huge power comes a huge responsibility. Pure luk sins may be one of the strongest class, but we have a name to uphold. If you plan to tarnish the already poor reputation of assassin by exercising those itchy fingers to ks others, then please stop reading this guide

2. The Pure Luk Assassin

Stat Build for Pure luk Assassins

The start out is always the same:

Str 4Dex XXInt 4Luk XX

Dex and luk can be any number, but str and int MUST be 4.

Lv 1  10Add dex to 25 (MINIMUM) and pump the rest of the points to luk.

This build max Critical Throw as soon as possible to enable fast training during the 40s. Haste comes next instead of claw booster because for pure luk sins we use maple claws and kandayos which already have faster attack speed. The booster does give a even faster attack speed but in this case the pumping can be delayed because haste provides more advantages to training than the SMALL increase in atk speed that booster gives us pure luk sins.

Haste is maxed first to enable faster lvling during the 30s and also better for pq. However it will level slower in the 40s due to Critical Throw not being maxed. Hence this build is only recommended if you are going to pq for the majority of your lvling duringthe 40s.

I highly recommend this build. It enables you to train at coolies from lv 70 - 77, then you can move on to Extra - D to get better exp with lv 21 sp. Then at around lv 87, you can leave for sotongs, where you get very good exp and the 21 avenger can be used to clear goby houses. From here you will be getting lv 10 meso-up so u can break even with the cost of summoning rocks, followed by lv 10 alchemist because lv 1- 10 adds 3% increase in recovery but lv 11 - 20 only adds 2%. After lv 9x when, you can move on to purple squids in map 2 to party and get better exp.

This build is for those that can't stand sticking to 1 training spot for too long. Flash Jump is added to 14 to clear viking gaps, Alchemist stops at 11 a bit (unagis now heal 1320 HP ea), and Avenger stays at 21 for 6 hit-avenger. Hence this build can train at sotongs/vikings solo or party.

This build is for those who want to grind at coolies for very long, from here on you can decide to add Shadow Meso for Zakum or Flash Jump. Divine chose to add Avenger at last because he feels that Avenger damage will not be good till Lv 120.

You may choose to modify these builds according to where you train, and your current financial status.

*Note The Reson Why buy Black Dorothy Shoes Is it the only common Shoe Which + lukAs you can see do not need dex, we only need luk. Buying dex equips are useless.I will list out the items that you should get the first few items will be more important than the ones at the back.

This Is for those who totally unfunded, I would suggest getting Subis till u managed to get some Mokbis or Kumbis, I will skip Maple Claw and use garnier all the way due to the fact that Im unfunded. I will choose not to use warrior pots/pills and save the money for a Maple Kandayo. After that , save up some meso for a lousily scrolled Wa wg.

To help you to remember it, the acronym for it is IMFAGGS (I must find a good gaming spot).

I  You should consider if the item and mesos drops are worthwhile. This is extremely important because when you are training you certainly do not want to be losing mesos. When taking into consideration this factor, make sure you calculate how much mesos you are spending on potions and how many hit you take to kill each monster.

For example if you take around 2 hits to kill Coolie Zombie, and each hit cost you 16 mp (lucky seven), then you would be spending 32 mp per coolie zombie. Then weigh the mesos spent against the mesos dropped. Coolie zombie drop 3XX mesos and around 330 on average. Each coolie you will spend around 64 mesos ( 1 mp = 2 mesos) and after taking into consideration the dmg you receive and hp pots used, you spend around 80 mesos per coolie zombie. Around 2  3 coolies will drop 1 stack of mesos. Hence 330 / 2.5 = 132. Take 132 : 80 and get a rough ratio which is 3:2. (meaning you make 3/2 the mesos you spend) Use this ratio to compare between different monsters and how worthwhile is it training at that spot.

For item drops, it is best not to depend on it for regular income because the drop is for items and scrolls are not consistent. Hence, take it as a bonus every time you find a scroll or equipment, but dont depend on it for regular income because it is not very reliable. However, you can still try your luck to train at somewhere with lesser mesos earned : mesos lost ratio but more drops of rare items. (this will be especially true for high lvls since most of mesos earned are from rare drops)

On a scale of 1  10, I would rate the importance of item and mesos drops with a rating of 7 when choosing a training spot. (would be 10 but funded people pay less attention to mesos earned)

M  Is the map you are training at too big? Is partying/sharing map going to be better than soloing? In many cases, we tend to feel that partying/sharing map will slow down our training, because it seems that 2 people are competing for exp. However, many of the times, this is not the case.

Consider the scenario where someone is training at Jr yetis. The map is huge and it would take lots of time for someone to travel from one end to the other and at the same time clearing the mob. While it may seem that if someone takes the top lane and you solo the bottom lane it would be the best, but which person would want to do that unless you have an extremely fast killing speed? Simply because the person taking the top lane will most likely have lots of situations where he will need to wait for spawn and sometimes even have nothing to kill for around 10 seconds. Thus would it be better if you solo the whole map? Possibly yes if you could maneuver around fast enough, but as you train you will slowly notice that the spawn rate will slowly decrease because the top lane is not being killed while you stay at the bottom.

So whats the alternative? Perhaps considering having 3 people to share the map, one at the top lane and 2 at the bottom taking left and right each. 3 people would be just right to have complete coverage of 2/3 of the map at any one time (not whole map because the map is too big and even 3 people cant cover every corner at any 1 time). Thus with much of the area covered, it would ensure godly spawn for all 3 people. However, this has very much to do with level and skill also. If you are someone who is lv 90 and is a hermit, I would suggest you to solo the bottom lane and have someone to take the top. This is just right because with flash jump and 1 hit ko ability, the hermit basically covers the job of 2 regular lv 50s.

Another similar example would be the white pang map which fire mage like to train at. I would not elaborate much since this is more of a pure luk sin guide. However the area is large too, not horizontally but vertically. Also the terrain poses a problem (more will be explained in Geography of map section).

Ultimately, depending on whether you have people to share map with you or not, you will pick different spots, but if you are soloing it is generally better to pick smaller training spots. Experience will tell you whether the size is suitable for you or not.

On a scale of 1  10 I would rate the importance of map size as a factor as 7, since it largely affects spawn rate hence exp and drops.

F - This can affect your training spot to a large extent. If you are an extremely funded hermit, your damage can beat those 20 levels above you. For example, a godly pure luk sin with a wa 45 kandayo and wa 12 wg and ilbis and takoyaki and wa 4 pink cape and godly sauna etc, he should be able to train at coolies at lv 43, once he equips his kandayo. Although he will be burning pots there, he probably will be 1  2 hit koing most of the monsters there and the exp will be godly. However, for a non-funded pure luk sin that uses a wa 32 kandayo, kumbis and a wa 6 wg, he would only be able to go coolies at around lv 55 to get around 80% 2 hit ko chances, and it would be better to train at jr yetis at lv 50 for him.

This is not only true for equipment, but also for pots. A funded person can afford to bring lots of pots hence be able to train at places which have good exp but burn lots of pots; an unfunded person may be stuck at the same 1 hit ko place with lower exp but uses less pots. However, this kind of situations are rare, since most 1-2 hit ko places provide better exp than 3-4 hit ko places.

Thus when choosing your training spot, always see whether your funds can sustain you there and whether you can skip a lower lvl training spot if you are highly funded.

On a scale of 1  10 I would rate it 6, since pot money and equips control much of your training spot choices.

A  This is quite important but not the most important, of course. For maps like sotong and coolies or maybe the future flyeye cave (not yet released) and other popular training areas, competition for maps may be very tough. This is especially true for servers like aquilia which houses majority of the maplers. Getting a map in those places may seem like searching for a needle in the deep sea. Thus, this factor limits some people to lousier training spots because those optimum ones are overly crowded with people.

However, there are ways to overcome this of course. Methods such as improving personal networking to have more opportunities to find parties to train together and also changing your online timing can be used. Others such like buying map and raiding map are available methods but I personally do not approve of them.

On a scale of 1  10, I would rate is 8, since it really is quite important considering how many people are spamming cc pls every second.

G  This basically refers to the terrain of the place that you are training at. Take the jr yetis example again. The map has 2 pieces of land, 1 at the top and 1 at the bottom, thus rendering it hard for someone to solo it. Aqua dungeon is also another good example, where the water affects the motion, hence making flash jump useless when facing sotongs.

The terrain can affect your training in many ways. For the map of white pangs, it is separated into 4 (or 3?) layers, and it is hard for someone to solo the whole map because climbing up and down the ropes wastes a lot of time. For certain maps, there are elevation spots, thus making it harder for assassins to hit certain monsters on the elevated area when shooting from the lower platform. However, elevation in terrain can also prove to be advantageous to assassins, especially to those without flash jump, since they can cover a larger distance if they jump from the edge of the higher terrain. (due to trajectory difference when jumping from a SLIGHTLY higher spot).

Nonetheless, these do not affect the training much, but can proof to be useful sometimes. Especially when it comes to maps with several layers, then partying would be wiser.

On a scale of 1  10, I would rate its importance as 4.

G  This no doubt seems extremely important, but do not be blinded by it. Monsters that have higher exp: hit ratio will most of the time offer better exp than others with lower exp: hit ratio. However, consider the situation of jr kittens (grupins etc.), and coolie zombies. Jr kittens give 65 exp per hit, and 195 exp in 3 hits; coolies give 190 per 3 hits. Which would be a better choice? If we follow the exp per hit theory, jr kittens would be a better choice since for the same number of hits it gives 5 more exp. However, the whole purpose of this mini training guide is to highlight the fact that exp per hit ratio is NOT everything. Spawn rate, terrain, map size, drops, funds to sustain and availability are also important factors to consider. For the scenario, the jr kitten map would be lousier exp than the coolies map, simply because the terrain in garden of green/yellow 1 and the map size are poor. Ultimately, we are looking at the time: exp ratio not just the hit : exp ratio; time: exp ratio is affected by spawn rate, map size, terrain and exp : hit ratio.

Thus, although this factor is extremely important and I would give it a rating of 8.5, we shouldnt be too obsessed with it and think that it is the one and only important factor.

S  This is everything. Map size decides spawn rate per area square; terrain affects killing speed hence spawn rate; how many hit to kill 1 monster affects spawn rate too. Basically how much exp you get revolves around how you maximize your spawn rate. The methods that I mentioned like partying in bigger maps, or maximizing the terrain to your advantage all improves spawn rate.

It is hard to decide whether some maps spawn faster than others or not. Generally it is assumed that as long as the monsters in the map are killed fast enough, the spawn rate will be high. Thus maximizing spawn rate is actually very easy if you know this simple theory behind it (everyone should know) and some of the factors mentioned in the mini-guide can help you in maximizing spawn rate.

No spawn = no exp & no mesos = no improvement. What could be more important than this? I give it a straight 10 rating.

SUMMARY

When choosing your training spot, think according to the importance of each factor. (You may have your own rating). Look if the spawn rate can be maximized at your training spot since it is the most important (this encompasses the map size and terrain), then weigh the exp per hit ratio, followed by the availability of the map, drops and mesos, funds to sustain, so on and so forth. Feel free to think of your own acronyms and new factors you may want to consider. This is just how I assess my training spot, you do not have to follow it.

Hope you find this mini-guide useful and wish you luck in finding your best gaming spot!

Party quest V.S. Normal training.

From my personal experience, party quest does bring good drops and mesos. However, it is extremely hard to get in and usually in 2 hour I can only do maximum of 2-3party quests, sometimes even none. Ultimately it depends a lot on luck to get in as auto-clickers are considered illegal in the game. The exp / time ratio is quite bad since it is not confirmed that you will get in.

Hence, it is actually a lot faster if you train normally, around 2 -3 times faster for me(varies according to person). I advise you to skip pq unless this is your first character and you have the luxury of time to wait and play hours everyday.

*Now with the 0.2x drop rate pq is even more hated. xD.

Training Grounds

Mob name Exp Location

Level 1 - 10

Snails 3exp Maple IslandBlue Snails 4exp Maple Island

Training at Maple Island before changing job into Rogue would be the best choice IMO.

Nothing beats Jr. Yetis at this lv. 60% GFA =) I will not really recommend any others cause they dont give any better drops than Jr. Yeti. From here on, you will be making money rather than losing or balance out.

Coolies and Coolies what more can you ask for. The only con is just the 10mins walk to reach Coolie map Hectors are another good option too. Flyeyes are good exp if you can't 100% 2 hit ko coolies and if you can't find a coolies map.

Best option will still be Coolies to me. Mix Golems arent really good due to the fact that you will be punching more often them instead of shooting. Gunboss would be good if you are lv 77 with lv 21 sp, can yield up to 30% per hr with 2x exp if you are careful.

Death Teddies/Yeti & Pepe as soon as you maxed Shadow Partner. You can also go Extra-d if you have avenger at a decent level. Bain party at lv87 and solo sotongs at lv85 and above is fine, partying at sotong is not a wise choice as you cannot leech any exp due to your lv. Gunboss is good too if you want good exp and high profits, but the risk of dying is pretty high too.

Simply anything that gives you good exp. Best would be sotong party till lv120  lv140 then look for Grim party.

4. FAQ

Common misconceptions of pure luk sin.

a. Can Pure Luk sins reset their dex to below 25?

Sadly, it has been tested and the answer is no. Die

b. Wouldnt pure luk sin have very low accuracy since their dex is capped at 25?

No. For thieves, 1 luk adds 0.3 accuracy and 1 dex adds 0.6 accuracy, hence without dex pure luk sins can still hit they have very high luk that adds lots of accuracy.

c. Will pure luk sins have unstable dmg since dex affects the stability of dmg?

Yes and no. For normal atks (no skills), drain and avenger, which uses the normal dmg formula, pure luk sins dmg will be unstable compared to normal sins or low-dex sins, since our dex is very low. However, for lucky seven, this is not the case. Lucky sevens formula does not take into account dex, but uses a built in mastery of its own.

Hence, pure luk sins are able to be made since our main atk is lucky seven and it does not depend on dex for dmg or stability.

d. Wouldnt pure luk sins die easily since their def is so low?Honestly, most high lvled sins will tell you that def doesnt matter. The 200 wdef advantage you have as a normal sin is not going to save you from getting pwned by something that 1-2 hit KOs you. Unless you train at snails or slimes then maybe you do need that def. (exaggerated I know xD).

e. Is it a must to become a pure luk sin since it is so powerful from lv 1  11X?

I would say no. Although pure luk sin has a damage advantage over normal sins for most of the lower levels, as the lvl increase, the dmg difference wears down. Moreover, pure luk sins do not get to equip nice armours and weapons like casters and pirate set. Although the funds to be invested in a pure luk sin and a normal sin is roughly the same, except pure luk sins luk sauna is more expensive, a normal sin also has its advantages such as having a more stable avenger dmg.

Ultimately, it is up to your personal preference as to which build you want to follow. All I can say that pure luk sin is good if you want to chiong non-stop and not have to worry about claws and armours, since everything is set from the beginning. Also pure luk sin is easy to distribute stats and you wouldnt encounter situations like lack of dex etc.

Generally, all sins should start off as pure luk from lv 1- 25, since it will ensure fastest lvling speed until you get to equip your meba. After lvl 25, the choice is yours whether to stay pure luk forever or change to normal sin or low-dex.

How long can the pure luk assassin sustain against normal and low-dex assassins?

a. How much stronger is pure luk sin than low-dex and normal sins at low lvls?

For easier explanation and calculation, I will be focusing on lucky seven damage only since it is the most used skill. Please refer to appendix for the excel spreadsheet for the dmg of normal, pure luk and low-dex with equips from lv 1  200.

b. Hence should I stay pure luk sin forever?

Ideally you shouldnt. If you look at the pure luk sins dmg at the end, it loses to both low-dex and normal sins. The break comes when you get your zakum helm, where pure luk loses its advantage to low-dex because of the 15 dex difference. Also, the higher wa of caster (62) used by low-dex made the difference in dmg bigger.

However, you can choose not to change at all, and continue being a pure luk for as long as you like. Ultimately maplestory is for fun and choose what best fits you.

If you somehow want to change, I suggest you convert to hybrid (low-dex + normal) sin.

With these equips, a hyrbrid sin can cap his dex at 74 to equip caster and enjoy an additional 106 luk.

This build combined with a godly caster of wa 62 will achieve the maximum dmg possible and do not have to worry about equips unless lv 110 claw and lv 110 armour is released, then it will only become stronger.

The luk = wa ratio comes from this formula. If luk = 700 and wa = 100, then each increase in luk will =1/7 increase in wa, hence 1 wa = 7 luk. This equation is dynamic and changes when you increase either sides value.

Pure luk sins have higher dmg because when lvl is lower, luk = wa ratio is smaller, hence 1 wa is around 2-3 luk at lower lvls, giving pure luk quite a lot of advantage since luk affects the dmg as drastically as wa.

However at higher lvls wa gains back its advantage as each luk only affects dmg very slightly as compared to each wa.

b. How is Critical calculated? Isnt it 200% dmg?

Sadly No.

Critical is NOT 200% dmg, but + 100% dmg. It may seem the same, but it is actually different.

When u factor in critical into lucky seven, you do not x2 the whole equation. Instead, you change the multiplier of 1.5 into 2.5, hence adding 100% dmg.

This info is taken from JMS.

c. How does shadow partner work? What does basic atk and normal atk mean?

Very nice, very informative. I love this guide, 5/5 and . =D Now that I've remembered about Jr. Kitties training for 3x, I'm going there today. xD I <3 Jr. Cellions, for some odd reason, and I've loved to hunt there since my I/L. =] Even though I was misinformed and I was training there early 3x. xD [/digressing]

2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. (5 is the Lord replying to Habakkuk)5 "Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." Habakkuk 1:2-5

4 "See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous will live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4